Intro
Broadcasting live from the Business Radio X studios in Dayton, Ohio. It's time for Dayton Business Radio. Now, here's your host.
The Mag
Lee Cantor here is another episode of Dayton Business Radio, and this is going to be a fun one. Today we have with us Valerie J. Lewis Coleman, and she is with Pen of the Writer. Welcome, Valerie.
Valerie J.
Well, thank you, Lee.
The Mag
Well, before we get too far into things tell us about Pen in the Writer, how are you serving folks?
Valerie J.
Well, what I've been doing since officially 2004, it's serving professional speakers and experts to magnify and monetize their message by publishing quality books through my company Pen of the Writer.
The Mag
So how'd you get into this line of work?
Valerie J.
Well, you know, I used to be an engineer, I was a senior engineer for GM, now, Delphi, for 26 years. And when my particular plant closed, no Abloh, a spaniel [inaudible]. I decided that instead of moving to El Paso, Texas, I would launch my publishing company. So it was kind of a transition that I made to take my engineering problems, and skills, and use them to serve authors and aspiring authors to save 1000s of dollars, and put out a quality product.
The Mag
Now, when you're working with authors that have never gone through this process, before. Having that systematic mindset, I'm sure what helps you kind of check all the boxes that need to be done to create a quality product. But what are some of the misconceptions that aspiring writer has about the process?
Valerie J.
Well, for most of them, they believe that writing is the hardest part. And what I'm finding through a lot of people who I'm working with is they have a hard time getting their message out, for several reasons, the predominant one is fear, then they are unclear as to what's where they want to go. So focus will be the other thing that holds people back. And I would say that for the new writer. And then maybe some of the challenges that they're experiencing, writing is only about 10% of this process of it consumes about 10% of your time, energy, effort, and money, then publishing is about 30%. And marketing is about 60%. And that's probably true for most businesses, marketing is going to be the predominant force that drives your business, or, or thinks your business depending upon how you position yourself. So So to answer your question, Lee, I think for most people, new writers, they think that writing is the hard part.
The Mag
And then if they're trying to go the conventional route, writing the book is just the beginning, you have to get someone else to say they want to publish it. And the traditional publishing method could take years, right?
Valerie J.
It could absolutely take years, and it takes a lot of time. So another misconception is that just because I write the book, someone's going to pick it up. But with the influx of self-publishing, and all the digital platforms and the ease to enter, enter the industry now because of the barriers of technology have been eliminated or removed. What is happening is publishing companies, traditional publishing, companies have had to downsize their businesses, and they become more strict on who they will and won't accept. So what they traditionally look for, as a traditional publisher, are authors who have already published a book and had great success on their own success meaning numbers, so so they so 10s of 1000s up to the 100,1000s of books, they have significant followings on their platforms.
And they have already proven that they can generate money and they have a following of people. So that it is like a no brainer almost for the traditional publishing company to come in and assist that author because that's basically what they're doing is assisting them because the author has already proven their level of determination, their work ethic, and their commitment to the process. So Now traditionally, publishing companies aren't losing as much money because they are very strategic in which authors they choose to publish and work with.
The Mag
And then for the most people out there, they don't have that. So their results will probably be different when they were self-published. Not many self-published authors become rich because of book sales right they're using the book for a variety of reasons.
Valerie J.
Well, there are no there are self-published authors who have become millionaires but their books. Richard Kiyosaki's “Rich man poor dad” started out self-published now he's not anymore but he sold 250,000 copies as a self-published author because he had the right marketing in place. I have one of my clients as my main success story. I started out helping her as a self-published author. Now she writes for three different publishing companies. She earns her living as a writer, so it is definitely possible. However, what is happening is because it is so easy to enter the industry, a lot of new authors are trying to navigate around the process by not editing, or not having a professional editor trying to do the cover themselves, you know, they're trying to do everything themselves, and they are not expert or proficient in various aspects. And so they are creating poor quality books, overpricing for them, and then not being able to sell.
The Mag
So now walk me through the process, like we talked about off-air, Stone and I are in the process of writing a book. How would it work if we were working with you?
Valerie J.
Well, I have several different options that I do for authors because I have authors who have time and not as much money than I have, who have money and not the time. And so I have a process that kind of reaches that whole continuum. I have published books specifically for aspiring authors, a book on writing, and a book on publishing that navigate you through the entire process of cover design, editing, launching your business, what it takes to get the meat of the business started. And, and then that's so that's for the author who doesn't have necessarily the money but has the time, then I have in between there, I do mentoring options, where I teach people and walk them through the process. So I'm not doing it for you, I'm showing you how to do it so that you can rinse and repeat the more of the do it yourself type process in the middle.
And I also host live events, workshops, webinars, I have an online workshop and of the writer, virtual book camp, coming up in a week through the passionatepens.com website, and people can register for that. So that's another option. And then the pinnacle or the end of the pendulum is publishing, where I actually publish books for clients at this, to this point, I've published over 134 authors. So it kind of depends on where they are on that continuum that I can provide the service, they need to get to the next level.
The Mag
And then what's the range and pricing?
Valerie J.
Well, for the book start, as low as $15. And then when you get into the live event, at the one I'm doing coming up with a virtual live event, it's $49 per workshop, I'm doing a class on writing a class on publishing and a class on marketing three consecutive Saturdays, each one of those is 49, or you invest in all three, then it's 119. So there's a savings plus a bunch of bonuses that go with that. And then the other live events, I hope that this kind of depends. Mentoring, I have a package that starts as low as $250. And they go up to as far as 5000, depending upon what you want, I had a client who wanted to be an Amazon Best Selling Author. So she invested in the highest plan. And within four months, she was in the top 50 on Amazon, had 38 reviews when she started out with zero had a fan page that had over 300 people when she started out with that with the row. And so that is the other pinnacle of mentoring. And then the publishing, I have three different plans for that depending upon where the author is and what they want to do. All of my plans include a customized cover, set, and me setting up all the details for the interior making sure that your book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles set up with distributors available to libraries and bookstores.
And the cover is customized, I don't do covers. I work with a professional graphics designer who has done 1000s of covers. So she does that for me. Some of the plans include editing, they include marketing, and they range from $2,500, up to 5995. And that includes 500 copies of the book. So my authors, because I'm serious about positioning them to land media attention, book speaking engagements, and sell books. I am very strategic in how I position them so that their books don't look quote-unquote self-published. They have the feel of a traditionally published book based on the price the page count the cover of the content, and so it positions them to land international speaking engagements. One of my clients had her message included on the Maria Shriver report, because of how the quality of her book was, other clients have one bestsellers list, and so on and so forth. So my thing is not just to publish a book, because that's fairly easy to do with technology. My focus is to publish a book that can garner success from my clients.
The Mag
So now you mentioned it didn't look like a self-published book. What are some of the signs that say maybe this book wasn't professionally put together?
Valerie J.
Man, there are a lot of them. One of the first signs for me, I'll go to the cover is when the author puts him or herself on the front, their likeness on the front. That is a vanity move, which tends to hinder sales. Because that says to the reader, the book is about the author and not about the reader. So why would I buy your book about you? I'm trying to make my life better. I'm trying to learn something I'm trying to improve myself, so, initial and if they're not a no, let me say, if you are a recognizable image like Denzel Washington, he should be on the front of his book, or President Barack Obama, I guess he's not president anymore. Barack Obama should be on the front of his book, or Joel Olsteen should be on the front of his book because they are recognizable images and household names, they sell their image will sell the book. However, if you are an average Joe or Joanna, shall we say, You shouldn't do that to yourself, because it speaks as a vanity move.
So that's one of the first things the second thing that I recognize, and that's just the front cover, there are a lot of other things. But on the back cover, one of the first ways I can identify whether a book is self-published is if the author did or did not include the barcode did or did not get the ISBN did or did not have the retail price embedded on it. Or if the back of the book doesn't have the necessary marketing copy, which it's fairly easy to identify, and then the pricing. So I have seen authors have books that should sell for like $10, trying to sell it for $30, because they spent way too much getting their book published. And in typos.
The Mag
Well, that makes sense. But so you help with the pricing, you can advise on what the right pricing is.
Valerie J.
Absolutely, that's where my engineering comes in. So I really sit down and I said, there are two key factors that determine whether a book of the retail price of a book, The first is your cost. And then the second is the competition. And what most authors do is they just focus on their cost. So if it cost me $10, a book to produce this book, I'm going to sell it for 20. That's not the model that should work in engineering, they used to have a model, you know, the cost model where you have cost plus profit equals retail price.
But what has happened is when the competition came in and flooded the industry when the international market opened, we had to change that model, we couldn't just add profit to our cost, we had to look at what the price was everybody else was doing, and then subtract our costs to get our profit, which meant we had to focus on lowering our costs. The same is true for authors in the book business, you'd have to be intentional on what everybody else is charging.
And when I say, everyone, I'm speaking more of like New York Times bestselling authors, those who have traditionally published books, what type of retail prices they're charging, use that as the benchmark for how much you charge for your book, based on page count, based on the interior, whether it's black and white, or color based on the trim size, you know, based on the content, nonfiction versus fiction, those types of things, all those factors and parameters go into how to price a book.
The Mag
Now in some of the services you mentioned, you have from do it yourself all the way through do it for you, as part of the do it yourself, is this something that a person can do themselves? Like, is it or is this? Like there are so many steps, you can screw it up in so many ways, it's better to just bite the bullet and pay for the service?
Valerie J.
Yes, and yes, so you can do it yourself. But like you said, there are so many minor details to effective publishing that it's easy to miss one or think that what's not important and not do it, and then fall short. So the way my publishing book works, as I lay out every last specific detail that you need to consider I just had a phone call with a client earlier this week. And she said she followed my book and it was a great foundation to get her started on how to launch her publishing company and then get her first book out there. So it is a great tool. But for those people who are easily overwhelmed with all the minutia, I highly recommend hiring someone who is a book coach or literary agent, not a literary agent, but a literary midwife to help you get through that process so that you don't get things that either you don't know about or things you don't see as important and overlook them. And now your book can't be carried by libraries or bookstores won't touch you or you can't get into the school system if you have a children's book. So it's important to get with someone who has already done what you hope to do and then learn from them. That is the fastest way
The Mag
For your business or most of your authors. Like writing for the consumer or the business people like are they fiction or nonfiction? What is the profile of your ideal writer?
Valerie J.
So my authors through my company through my division are imprinted Queen V as in Valerie, Queen V publishing, most of them are nonfiction writers, and they are writing specifically as like self-help type books. So one of them is by Dr. Karen Townsend and whom you interviewed a couple of weeks ago, I published her book it all started when I stopped using lotion, one woman's journey from chaos to calm and that book has garnered her all kinds of national and international speaking opportunities. She is she hosts a live event prior to my book, she hosts a live event, but it becomes a calling card or business card for new business attractions. So that has been a great success for her. Another one of my clients Andrea Foy, her book was a higher power, how to find get and keep a job.
So she used her life experience to help people position themselves. And back then when the market was really bad how to position themselves on the details of interviews, sending resumes, crafting, and then keeping your job that was her initiative. And then Tony period Gillespie, who is the organizational strategist. Her book is I'm here now what a woman's guide in corporate America. And she used her experience in incorporate arena and executive in the corporate to help women understand how they can break that glass ceiling and keep moving forward. So all of my clients basically write about their life experiences. Maybe 20% of their life experiences are in the book and the other 80% is information that helps the reader the consumer, master their skillset so that they can do better Live better, feel better.
The Mag
Now, how is the Dayton, Ohio writer ecosystem? Do you find it fulfilling in terms of as collaborative? Are there citywide events?
Valerie J.
I host the citywide event actually. I've been hosting citywide events in Dayton, and book literary events since 2004. And they have migrated and transformed throughout the years. And this past year, I was scheduled to host the Pen of the writer or power book fest, Mother's Day weekend, of course, with the virus that has been rescheduled. So we're probably going to do it in the next year, that of just trying to fight with it over the summer and not knowing what's going to happen with everything. It's gonna be scheduled for May 7, and eighth 2021. But what I do is I have authors from across the country come to Dayton, Ohio, it's going to be at the Montgomery County fairgrounds. And I have collaborated speaking of collaborations, I collaborated with another small business owner, whose name was also Valerie, Valerie McKinney Walker, who's been doing a citywide small business event for the last 10 years that we are collaborating our efforts. And I'm bringing authors and she's bringing in other small business owners and we are going to be together under one roof for two days to give people a unique shopping experience, but also to give exposure to the small business owners. And part of that event, I am going to have workshops for aspiring authors.
And then there is an activity area for children called The Power kids zone. And so I've got a sponsor who's going to be managing and watching the kids and taking care of them and keeping them involved while their parents had the opportunity to shop. And one of my newest authors. Well, I'm working on his book now chef, Keith Denard Jones. So as a celebrity chef, we're hoping to have him come as a feature to do some cooking samples and to sell his new book, which will be coming out well done. So yeah, that's, that's what I do. I'd love to collaborate. I do anthologies which bring in other people so that they don't have the full responsibility of publishing a book. So I will take their stories, edit, package it and then provide them with a product. The last anthology I did was the weight of success, how to become an overnight success, and 7300 days, which is basically 20 years. And those authors are 14 participants, those authors debuted as bestsellers at one of the citywide book events that I host.
The Mag
So now if somebody wanted to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what's the website or social media coordinates?
Valerie J.
My website is penofthewriter.com. And most of my social media is also Pen of the writer, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram. I'm sure I'm missing one, but they're all pen of the writer.
Valerie J.
Good stuff. Well, Valerie, thank you so much for sharing your story today.
Valerie J.
Thank you so much for having me.
The Mag
All right. This is Lee Canter. We will see y'all next time on Dayton Business Radio.
Image source: https://penofthewriter.com/
